"You don't hatch a publicity stunt at 5:30 in the morning (the time the couple married)," says Marc Malkin, news director at Us Weekly.

"She's rebelling," suggests MSNBC's Jeannette Walls. And if it was a publicity stunt, "it's not a wise one," she adds.

"Whether it was just to have fun, or a true meltdown, it was still out of control," says Malkin.

On Saturday at the crack of dawn, Britney, 22, and her high school chum from Kentwood, La., got hitched at the Little White Wedding Chapel.

On Sunday, the pop star's record label issued a statement saying the couple "took a joke too far by getting married."

On Monday, Spears' lawyer filed the annulment petition in Clark County District Court, saying in court papers that Spears and her hubby-for-a-minute were "incompatible."

The groom, meanwhile, was busy granting interviews to Access Hollywood and Inside Edition from his Kentwood home on Monday.

The fateful day began, according to Alexander, 22, as the couple sat in their Vegas hotel room watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Contrary to reports, he said they weren't drunk.

"We were just chilling in the room, about 3:30, and we had so much fun, just looking out at the city and the lights, and we were, 'We're in Las Vegas, let's do something. Let's go get married,' " he told Inside Edition.

He said the two didn't date in high school, and were just friends, although, "There was definitely (feelings of) romance there. She came home for Christmas Eve and invited me to go to Las Vegas."

Alexander also told Inside Edition it was a mutual decision to get the marriage quickly annulled. He said the next day, when they started calling friends, "We both started realizing what we had done ... we shouldn't have went about it the way we had."

Alexander said he and Britney remain close.

And it may be more than just 15 minutes of fame for Alexander, a junior at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, La. Forget his years as the popular high school football player, or the best-looking "beau" at the homecoming dance.